Victim recounts home invasion tied to USD bribery suspects

Rob Fritzer, seen here with his dog, Madden, who survived a shooting during a home-invasion robbery on Dec. 15, 2010. Fritzer is sitting on the Jacuzzi where he was pistol-whipped that night.

John Gibbins

Rob Fritzer, seen here with his dog, Madden, who survived a shooting during a home-invasion robbery on Dec. 15, 2010. Fritzer is sitting on the Jacuzzi where he was pistol-whipped that night.

Rob Fritzer, seen here with his dog, Madden, who survived a shooting during a home-invasion robbery on Dec. 15, 2010. Fritzer is sitting on the Jacuzzi where he was pistol-whipped that night. (John Gibbins)

The three cases

USD-related case: Federal case in which 10 defendants are charged with distributing marijuana, conspiracy to commit sports bribery and illegal gambling. Defendants include Steve Warda Goria, former Morse football player David Gates and USD's all-time leading basketball scorer Brandon Johnson, who allegedly took a bribe to influence a game for gamblers in February 2010.

Dec. 15 home-invasion case: State case with four defendants including Goria, Gates and two others not involved in the USD case: Christopher Salmu, 46, and Ranse Shaba, 19. Goria is heard in wiretapped phone conversations planning the robbery in Rancho San Diego with Gates and Salmu, according to court documents.

Jan. 31 home-invasion case: State case charging Shaba with armed robbery in Mission Beach. He was with two unidentified black males who helped him steal a flat-screen TV, Deputy District Attorney Anthony Campagna said. Shaba allegedly pistol-whipped the victim, who knew him.

Last December, Rob Fritzer was enjoying a relaxing evening in his backyard Jacuzzi when he saw something that startled him. A bunch of masked men suddenly ran into his backyard and were swarming his house.

“Was this for real?” he remembered thinking. Maybe these were pranksters trying to pull a stunt on his 20-year-old daughter.

But then came the gun. As Fritzer, 49, tried to get out of the Jacuzzi, one of the intruders smashed him in the mouth with the butt of a pistol, cracking several of his teeth.

Eventually, his family would be tied up and robbed, and the family’s 7-month-old dog, Madden, would be shot.

The violent episode continues to spark nightmares for his family, Fritzer said.

Four men were charged last month with robbery and burglary in connection with the home invasion. Two of them — Steve Goria, 32, and David Gates, 34 — are among the 10 defendants indicted in federal court on charges of illegal gambling, marijuana dealing and conspiracy to commit sports bribery involving the basketball program at the University of San Diego.

County prosecutors have said the federal wiretaps in the USD case are what led them to bring charges against the four people in the home invasion. The other two charged are Christopher Salmu, 46, and Ranse Shaba, 19. They have pleaded not guilty. Goria and Gates are expected to be arraigned later this month in Superior Court.

In an interview at his East County house last week, Fritzer speculated that his home was hit by thieves because he had refused to lend $3,000 to Salmu, a former neighbor, to “get his car out of hock.”

“This was all out of spite because I wouldn’t loan him money, so he told the bad guys I had 400 grand in my safe,” Fritzer said.

10-minute ordeal

At least five masked intruders invaded his two-story house Dec. 15, he said. It was about 9:45 p.m. when they came into the backyard of the home that sits on a cul-de-sac and next to the hills of Rancho San Diego.

The entire ordeal lasted about 10 minutes, Fritzer said. Here’s what he described happened:

The masked men scaled the short fences around his backyard and brought his wife out of the kitchen and put her on the ground near the Jacuzzi, where Fritzer was pistol-whipped. They tied his wife’s legs together and told her to hop back inside the house, where they put her in the laundry room next to Fritzer’s office.

Meanwhile, at least one of the intruders went upstairs and kicked in the door of the bathroom where Fritzer’s daughter had locked herself in after seeing one of the intruders from the balcony overlooking the yard. About the same time, the family’s Labrador-shepherd mix puppy was barking at the intruders, and one of them shot her. The bullet passed through the dog’s side and landed on the carpet.

The thieves then went to Fritzer’s office, where he runs a company that makes videos that tell the personal histories of families.

The intruders brought Fritzer’s daughter to the office with a pillowcase over her head and tied up one of his employees. After they brought Fritzer into the room, one of the gunmen chambered a bullet in the gun and pointed it at his daughter’s head.

Fritzer said he was told: “Open the safe, or she’s dead.”

Safes ransacked

The office has two five-foot safes side by side. In one, Fritzer said, he keeps expensive old camera equipment. He hadn’t opened it in years and had forgotten the combination. He said he convinced the masked men that what they really wanted was in the other safe. When he opened it, Fritzer said, the men looked in and exclaimed, “Holy (expletive).”

There were two guns, including a .45 Winchester Magnum, and $70,000 in cash. They stole the guns and money, tied Fritzer’s hands behind his back with a zip tie, put him on the carpet face down and smacked him again with the gun.

After they ran out, Fritzer said he quickly freed himself, retrieved a gun from under his desk and went after them. He had a “red dot” on the back of one intruder, he said, but decided not to shoot.

“I don’t want to get involved in taking a life,” he said.

Police called

Fritzer called police to report the home invasion.

He said he immediately told authorities he suspected Salmu, who was convicted of selling cocaine in 1993.

Fritzer said he has known and liked Salmu’s family for years. He thinks Salmu knew about the safes from visiting the Fritzers when he lived in a nearby home.

A few weeks before the robbery, Fritzer said, Salmu also told him he had one “last chance” to loan him money.

Fritzer said he collects guns and he kept the cash in the safe in case something happened to the bank.

“I’ll never keep cash in my house again,” he said.

Federal wiretaps captured Salmu and Shaba planning or talking on the telephone about the crimes with Goria minutes after they occurred, according to court documents.

Goria was “a key player in the planning of the burglary,” Deputy District Attorney Anthony Campagna said. Although Goria, Salmu, Shaba and Gates have all been charged in the home invasion, authorities have said it’s not known who besides Shaba actually entered the house that night.

Shaba has been charged with animal cruelty in connection with shooting the dog, which survived. He also has been charged with armed robbery in a Mission Beach home invasion on Jan. 31.

He and Salmu are being held in a San Diego jail with bail set at $500,000 for each.

Goria and Gates are both in federal custody for the USD case. Federal prosecutors have said Goria is one of the three masterminds behind a scheme to bribe basketball players to influence the outcome of games for gamblers. They have said Gates’ role was to “intimidate bettors” who didn’t pay their debts.